I think Kevin Young is the reason.


He had a vision of what he could do at BYU. That vision was to assemble a staff with domestic and international connections for high level recruitment of not only big 12 talent but also NBA talent. Talent interested in being mentored and coached by a staff whose primary interest was to prepare them to leave BYU and enter the professional ranks of the NBA.

Young actually has the reputation and the knowledge to do just that.


I believe the admin as well as recruits saw pope as someone more interested in self and the program than the individual. I think popes vision was to get right where he is and in that context he is a total success.

Having the right identity and vision is one thing. Implementation takes Something few people can do at this level. Young has been able to get buy in. Buy in from the administration, buy in from donors, and buy in from the exact type of players that he envisioned bringing to BYU

Four or five months ago, no one in college basketball or in our fan base thought that Kevin Young’s vision was possible to implement and be successful at here at BYU


But Kevin was able to convince the staff that he got to come here and to convince the school to pay them, and to convince all the players that he got to stay to stay. He convinced a five star player from Russia to leave The premier developmental team in Europe and an NBA legacy kid with no ties to the church to come to BYU.

This isn’t NIL. NIL gets young in the room but there are lots of others in the room.

This is all because of Kevin Young who has the right identity and vision and the reputation and executive skills to pull it off

It’s absolutely mind blowing